Targeted acupuncture may offer women with major depression a safe and effective alternative to antidepressant medication, new research suggests.

Investigators at Stanford University School of Medicine in California found that women with major depressive disorder treated with depression-specific acupuncture had a 63% response rate after 12 sessions compared with a 44.3% response rate in 2 combined control groups who were treated with either acupuncture not known to help alleviate depressive symptoms or Swedish massage.

"Pregnancy just by its nature can bring out some underlying psychiatric and emotional issues ... but treatment of depression during pregnancy is critically important so that a woman can maintain her sense of well being and take good care of herself, her fetus and, someday, her child," study coauthor Deirdre Lyell, MD, Stanford University School of Medicine, said in a statement.

Led by Rachel Manber, PhD, the study was published in the March issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Response Rates Significantly Higher

For the study, investigators randomized 150 women whose pregnancies were between 12 and 30 weeks of gestation and who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) criteria for major depressive disorder and who scored at least 14 on the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression.

Of the 141 women who eventually entered the study, 52 received depression-specific acupuncture, 49 received control acupuncture, and 49 others received Swedish massage.

Treatments were provided twice a week for the first 4 weeks and then weekly thereafter for 4 additional weeks, with each session lasting about 25 minutes.

The investigators found that response rates were significantly higher in women who received depression-specific acupuncture than for either control group. Response rates in women randomized to the 2 control interventions did not differ significantly from each other at 37.5% for the control acupuncture group vs 50% for the massage group.

On the other hand, remission rates did not differ significantly between women who received depression-specific acupuncture at 34.8% and the combined control groups at 29.5%. They also did not differ between those assigned to the control acupuncture group at 27.5% or the massage group at 31.2%.

Thirty-three of the study participants discontinued treatment before the study endpoint, 30% of them for reasons related to the pregnancy. Some women in both acupuncture groups reported transient discomfort at the point of needle insertion, and 1 woman experienced bleeding at the needle site.

Significantly fewer women who received massage reported any adverse effects compared with the 2 acupuncture groups.

Clinically Meaningful

The study authors point out that the benefits observed with depression-specific acupuncture can be considered "clinically meaningful" when assessed in a broader context of depression studies.

Although there are no randomized controlled trials of antidepressants being used during pregnancy, 1 randomized controlled trial found that interpersonal psychotherapy produced a 52% reduction in Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression scores and a 19% remission rate after 16 weeks of therapy, to which the currently study compares very favorably.

According to the study, antidepressant use during pregnancy doubled between 1999 and 2003, but many women are reluctant to take these medications because of safety concerns. In fact, in this particular study, 94% of the women involved expressed reluctance to take an antidepressant because of their pregnancy.

"Because theres this concern about medication among pregnant women and their physicians, its important to find an alternative," said Dr. Manber.

Results from this study therefore suggest that this standardized acupuncture protocol could be considered a "viable treatment option" for depression during pregnancy, the investigators conclude.

Michael Thase, MD, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, cautions that findings from this study are preliminary, although they suggest that depression-specific acupuncture may have value in major depressive disorder in this patient population.

On the other hand, another study assessing depression-specific acupuncture in a broader population of men and women with major depressive disorder failed to find a significant effect from the modality, so evidence supporting acupuncture for the treatment of major depressive disorder is not consistent.

"Still there is reason to be cautious when prescribing antidepressants in pregnancy, and one has to weigh the pros and cons of using an antidepressant on an individual basis, he told Medscape Psychiatry.

"If these promising findings are confirmed, it would be good to have another option to complement the focused forms of psychotherapy which are currently used for antenatal depression," he added.

The study was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The study authors and Dr. Thase have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

In the 1992 presidential
campaign, Bill Clinton was a heavy underdog to popular incumbent George H. W.
Bush. Bush was considered unbeatable due to foreign policy successes including
the end of the Cold War and routing Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War. But
Bushs approval ratings, which had been in the 90 percent range, began to dip as
his campaign ignored the economic recession. Clintons campaign manager James
Carvilles now famous campaign slogan, "Its the economy stupid," helped turn
the tide and Bill Clinton became the forty-second American president.

Just like George Bushs 1992
presidential campaign, todays medical community continues to promote the
medical myths associated with cholesterol while ignoring the real cause of
cardiovascular disease, inflammation.

Conventional opinion and
current medical dogma holds that low cholesterol, especially low LDL
cholesterol, reduces the risk and incidence of heart disease and stroke. This
belief is so entrenched in the medical community that the FDA now approves drugs
to prevent heart disease, as it did with Zetia and Vytorin, solely on the
evidence that they lower LDL cholesterol levels. Zetia has never been proven to
reduce heart attacks, strokes or death. Statin drugs help reduce the risk of
heart attack and stroke for those whove already had a cardiac event (one
percent over placebo) but fail to reduce death in women, the elderly, men over
the age of 47, and in men without cardiovascular risk factors.

A 2006 study in The
Archives of Internal Medicine looked at seven trials of statin use in
nearly 43,000 patients, mostly middle-aged men without heart disease. In that
review, statins didnt lower mortality.

Nor did they in a study known
as Prosper, published in The Lancet in 2002, which studied statin use
in people seventy and older. Nor did they in a 2004 review in The Journal of
the American Medical Association, which looked at thirteen studies of
nearly 20,000 women, both healthy and with established heart disease.

Despite a growing voice of
reason, which became even louder after the recently released Enhance study, the
cholesterol zealots continue to view cardiovascular disease with tunnel vision.
This myopic vision fuels the cholesterol drug war which rages on as each
pharmaceutical company seeks to gain economic gain in the 40 billion dollar a
year lipid lowering drug market.

In an attempt to take on the
cholesterol Goliath, Pfizers Lipitor (10 billion dollars in sales annually),
Merck and Schering-Plough combined their cholesterol lowering drugs, Zocor and
Zetia, to form the "super drug" known as Vytorin. Vytorins goal was to lower
LDL cholesterol more than either drug could alone. Zetia lowers blood
cholesterol by blocking the absorption of dietary cholesterol from the
intestines. Zetia used alone is modestly effective in lowering LDL cholesterol
by approximately 17 percent. Zocor alone lowers LDL levels by 36 percentsimilar
to Lipitor.

The hope was that by lowering
LDL to dramatically low levels, Vytorin would do a better job of slowing the
accumulation of fatty plaques in the arteries. Vytorin did, in fact, reduce
LDLby a whopping 51 percent (similar to AstraZenecas Crestor).

However, the two-year
"Enhance" trial failed to prove that Vytorin is better than Zocor alone for
slowing plaque accumulation; instead atherosclerosis worsened in those taking
Vytorin.

Merck and Schering-Plough
suppressed this finding for twenty months.

The study results were not
revealed until the two drug companies were pressured into doing so by an article
in The New York Times and a Congressional inquiry. The marketers of
Vytorin said they had nothing to hide. Its hard to believe they werent just a
little reluctant to publish their highly anticipated study. The news that
Vytorin, which retails for $100 a month and did $2 billion in sales in 2007, was
clinically inferior (perhaps even dangerous) to generic simvastatin (statin),
costing less than $20 a month, obviously wasnt what stockholders wanted to
hear.

Merck and Schering-Plough are
running full-page ads daily in the Times and Wall Street
Journal, warning people not to be confused by a single study and to
continue taking Vytorin. The advice was backed by the American Heart
Association, which the Times reported receives nearly $2 million a year
from Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals.

Other LDL lowering drugs have
bitten the dust in the last coupe of years as well.

Pfizers trial of its
much-anticipated drug torcetrapib, which raised HDL, the good cholesterol, and
lowered LDL, had to be stopped in 2006 because the drug caused heart attacks and
strokes.

Estrogen replacement therapy,
which is known to lower LDL cholesterol levels, failed to reduce the incidence
of heart attack and stroke in clinical studies.

Ok, if cholesterol lowering
isnt the answer for everyone, why do statins help people with existing heart
disease? Dr. James K. Liao of Brigham & Womens Hospital in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, has been investigating this question for over a decade. He
suspects that statins have other biological effects. His research shows that
statin drugs not only block cholesterol, but also an inflammation-generating
enzyme known as rho-kinase.

When Liao reduced the
rho-kinase levels in rats, they didnt get heart disease. "Cholesterol lowering
is not the reason for the benefit of statins," he concludes. Of course, there
are dozens of inflammatory chemicals that play a role in triggering
cardiovascular disease. Diet, health habits, our environment, even our
personality may initiate inflammatory chemicals that perpetuate cardiovascular
disease events.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said,
"People see only what they are prepared to see." As the evidence about
inflammation and cardiovascular disease rises, will conventional medicine and
the public at large be prepared to see that its not about lowering cholesterol
but in reducing inflammation? Hopefully, "Its the inflammation, stupid," will
become a common slogan in the campaign to fight cardiovascular disease.

Rodger Murphree, D.C., has
been in private practice since 1990. He is the founder of, and past clinic
director for a large integrated medical practice, which was located on the
campus of Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of
Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia
and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Heart Disease What Your Doctor Wont Tell You,
and Treating and Beating Anxiety and Depression with Orthomolecular
Medicine. He can be reached at www.treatingandbeating.com, by email at
drrodgerm@yahoo.com or 1-205-879-2383.

LIVE LOVE LAUGHEvery day can be filled with meaning. Take a moment, just the amount of time you need to take a deep breath and exhale slowly, to ask yourself what is my dream, and how will I get there from here?What can you stop doing or do differently to simplify your life and make it more meaningful? What is truly important to you? Do you give some time each week to your true priorities?Why not fill your life with love and laughter whenever you can? There is no greater gift than the gift of loving others. There is nothing wrong with taking some time for self-care too. Love your pet? Love walking out in nature? Make time for your passions and those things that add value to your life. Your body, mind and soul will thank you.Do you have a mission in life?Dream it. Think about it. Talk about it. Commit to it.

Theyre everywhere we looksmart phones, tablet computers, laptops and moreand sometimes these modern gadgets are a pain in the neck, literally. Thats why the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) is bringing attention to the sometimes painful injuries caused by excessive use of technology this month during National Chiropractic Health Month (NCHM).

This years campaign"Get TechnoHealthy!"focuses on ways people can remain healthy while toting and using the gadgets they love. ACA offers a web site, www.TechnoHealthy.com, with information for the public, including instructive videos.

While modern mobile technologies and computers offer convenience and efficiency, the excessive use of these devices and the incorrect posture that often accompanies it can lead to neck, back, wrist and even thumb pain, in addition to other musculoskeletal issues.

"Our bodies are made to movenot to maintain the same stooped-over posture for long periods of time or to repeat the same motions endlessly. The consequences of treating our bodies this way over time is often soreness and pain, not to mention inactivity that can lead to fitness issues," said ACA President Dr. Keith Overland. The good news is that there are tips as well as stretches and exercises that can help prevent pain and injury. There are also natural approaches to treating aches and pain, such as chiropractic care, that dont involve drugs or surgery."

"Balance is key," continued Dr. Overland. "People shouldn't forget that being 'TechnoHealthy' also means knowing that you need to unplug every so often and take care of yourself by getting exercise, eating right and getting enough rest."

Sponsored by ACA, National Chiropractic Health Month is a nationwide observance held each October. The event helps raise public awareness of the benefits of chiropractic care and its natural, whole-person, patient-centered approach to health and wellness.

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) is the largest professional association in the United States representing doctors of chiropractic. ACA promotes the highest standards of patient care and ethics, and supports research that contributes to the health and well-being of millions of chiropractic patients. To learn more, visit www.acatoday.org/patients, or find us on Facebook.

According to a recent report by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) urging governments to avoid a public health disaster, healthier lifestyles could prevent millions of non-communicable deaths each year. In less than 10 years, cancers have increased globally by 20 percent to approximately 12 million new cases annually. Each year cancer, heart disease, lung disease and diabetes account for approximately 36 million deaths globally. Experts expect these numbers to increase significantly over the next 20 years, reaching more than 50 million deaths annually by 2030. If societies fail to act swiftly and immediately, experts feel future charities that currently exist to deal with disasters and famines will also be needed to help pay for cancer care. However, by simply reducing alcohol intake, improving diets, eliminating smoking and increasing physical activity experts state a third of all common cancers could be eliminated. These same changes would also significantly reduce other non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

It is estimated that some 18 million people in the US are sensitive to gluten with another 2-3 million suffering from celiac disease - a potentially serious autoimmune disease that causes damage to the small intestine in response to gluten consumption. So what is gluten and how do we avoid it? Gluten is a protein found in wheat and related grain species including barley and rye. One of the issues for those who must avoid gluten is the fact that it is found in so many foods including breads, baked goods, pasta, beer, even lunch meats, lipsticks and certain medicines. However, despite a down and struggling economy, gluten-free foods have been booming with 2011 US gluten-free food sales forecasted at 1.3 billion - a number that has more than doubled since 2005. If you have ever felt bloated or experienced abdominal pains after eating foods that contain wheat, barley or rye, try a gluten-free alternative as you just may be one of the approximately 20 million Americans that has issues with gluten consumption.

Diabetes itself has a host of serious and life threatening complications including issues with wound healing, nerve damage, kidney damage, blindness and even foot and/or leg amputation. If that wasn't enough, a new study indicates those with diabetes also have a significantly higher risk of developing colon cancer - the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. In a review of 14 international studies, researchers found diabetics to have a 38 percent greater risk of developing colon cancer and a 20 percent greater risk of developing rectal cancer. Additional studies have also found this link between diabetes and colon cancer. And although there is no cure for diabetes, there is something that can be done to better manage diabetes while reducing the odds of acquiring not only colon cancer, but other cancers - participate in regular physical activity, follow a healthy diet and if applicable, eliminate smoking.